Surely it's not only business that has to be socially responsible?

1. Volksrust Recorder - Column / Rubrieke8 Recorder 05 May 2017
We're all in the business
of social responsibility
Change
YourStory
With Jacques de Villiers
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JOK Inspirational
The process of getting what you want
involves patience, endurance and faith to
claimyourblessingsfromGod.Itmayseem
too hard to follow the routine yet exciting
but the results at the end shall bring
astonishing news. Sometimes it may bore
you, your mind will tell you to give up and
begin with new things that other people
think they is better for you. Don’t fall for
the trap, stay focused in order to unleash
your full potential in achieving the best.
Don’t run away from your task that God
gave you. Stick to His plan so that you
may get your things at the right time. It
may seem like a long journey, yet
sometimes the courage and hunger causes
you to get lost on the way but the vision to
fulfillyourpurposewillalwaysknock.Other
obstacles may cause you to give up. Let
me tell you the blessings that you are
looking for belongs to you and not
somebody else, therefore work hard and
don’t stop praying until you receive it. God
created you to reach your ultimate
blessings in order to fulfill your purpose.
Last week I wrote an article, Be Proud To Be
In Business http://
www.jacquesdevilliers.com/be-proud-to-be-
in-business/ and said that business, if the
intent is right, is honorable. Following on
from that, I want to explore the concept of
‘social responsibility’. In a nutshell, it means
that companies aren’t there just to make a
profit, they also need to operate their
businesses responsibly. They need to
address social and environmental issues.
Basically, they should limit the impact they
have on this planet that we all share, they
should treat their employees fairly and
ethically and they should be philanthropic
by donating time and money to local and
national charities. Limiting the impact on the
planet and treating employees fairly and
ethically are no brainers. Any organisation
thats intent is right i.e. ‘setting the other up
for success’, would be doing this as a matter
of course. Where I have a niggling concern
is on the philanthropic side of social
responsibility. I hear many people using the
words, “giving back”. This implies that
businesses have taken and therefore have to
pay back to those from whom they’ve taken.
Surely the narrative should be, “contribute
more if you can” and not “give back”? If a
company’s intent is true, then it is
contributing and not taking. It’s contributing
to the people it employs in the form of
providing jobs and contributes to the country
it serves in the form of taxes. The employees
also pay direct and indirect (VAT) taxes. It’s
win-win. I would imagine, that there’s enough
surplus tax money to pay for every charity
there is. There’s enough so that no child
should ever go hungry, uneducated or
underprivileged. There should be enough so
that no person who’s in the winter of his life
should have to live of dog food and be
discarded onto a trash heap. Unfortunately,
those that have been entrusted to protect
their tribe have not lived up to their
obligation. The system doesn’t work. We
know this. Thus, we need companies to
have social responsibility programmes to
help those less fortunate. This is noble ... to
help those in need. But companies should
not be made to feel guilty that they’ve taken
and therefore that they have to “give back”.
They’re already contributing and when
they’re supporting philanthropic causes,
they’re contributing more. Of course,
companies can only give more, if they have
more. So the trick is for everyone to
contribute more and take less ... this
includes, directors, managers and
employees. And, this is a hard thing to do,
isn’t it? Most of us are more concerned
with getting than giving. We look out for
#1. I agree with that sentiment if the
intention is right. We all first have to get
our own house in order before we can
consider helping others’ get their houses in
order. The challenge, of course, is to know
“when our house is in order”, isn’t it. Most
of us are trying to accumulate more and more
so we never feel that our house is in order.
Whether we earn R1000 per month or R1-
million per month, we are never satisfied and
try and add to that. With that kind of
attitude, we’ll never get to helping others
get their houses in order. As the
anthropologist and human excellence
consultant, Etsko Schuitema is so fond of
saying, “No bank account is big enough to
fill the hole in the chest called insecurity.”
Around now it’s probably a good time to
change direction and talk about rights and
duties. Bear with me, it does speak to social
responsibility. You see, we all think we have
rights. The winning political party thinks it
has the right to govern because it got the
majority of the votes. Businesses think they
have the right to trade. Trade unions think
they have the right to represent their
members. Employees think they have the
right to salaries and wages. Citizens think
they have the right to security, health,
education and the like. But we all forget
that we’ve already got more than is our due.
Just by getting to be conscious on this
planet for however short or long our
journey is, is enough reason to be more
than grateful. We should be in awe that we
get to play for a while. That awe (and
gratitude) does demand a payment. And,
that payment is called duty. It is our duty
to live up to the potential that was given to
all of us. Thus, we should strive to be the
best version of ourselves at all times. If
you buy this, then it should be easy to see
that it’s every government’s duty to
become the best version of itself so that it
can serve its citizens and make sure that
they thrive. It is business’s duty to become
the best version of itself so that it can serve
its employees and customers so that they
can thrive. It’s the employee’s duty to
become the best version of himself and put
in 100% effort to helping the business
achieve its goals (to set its employees and
customers up for success). Citizens need to
become the best versions of themselves and
start asking themselves what they can do
for their neighbours and their country. You
see, we’re all in the business of social
responsibility. We are responsible for
ourselves and for each other. But for this to
work, we have to give more than we take.
We’ve got to start thinking in terms of duties
and not rights. We thrive by giving each
other a hand up and not a hand out.
Whether we like it or not, none of us is owed
anything. We are the ones that owe. We owe
a debt of gratitude that this 4-billion year
old story has been written for our
enchantment and enjoyment. The only
payment that’s expected of us is awe,
gratitude and duty. That’s a good deal, don’t
you think?
~Jacques de Villiers~
Oud Volkie presteer uitsonderlik
Juan Aveling, 'n Oud Volkie het ons
gemeenskap baie trots gemaak toe hy sy
B.A. Teologie graad ontvang het. Hy is
tans besig met sy M.(DIV) graad aan die
Universiteit van Pretoria. Baie sterkte met
die toekomstige studies Juan en hou aan met
jou uitsonderlike prestasie.
~TS~
* Foto bo is Mnr Juan Aveling tydens sy gradeplegtigheid